Relation between mass balance aperture and hydraulic properties from field experiments in fractured rock in Sweden

Abstract

Results from tracer tests are often used to infer connectivity and transport properties in bedrock. However, the amount of site-specific data from tracer tests is often very limited, while data from hydraulic tests are more abundant. It is therefore of great interest for predictive transport modeling to use hydraulic data to infer transport properties. In this study, data from cross-hole tracer tests carried out in crystalline bedrock in Sweden were compiled and analysed. The tests were performed within investigations made by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) between 1978 and 2009 at five different locations. An empirical relationship between mass balance aperture and transmissivity was found and quantified by using 74 observations. The empirical relationship deviates considerably from the cubic law aperture, as mass balance aperture is found to be at least one order of magnitude larger than cubic law aperture. Hence, usage of cubic law aperture, derived from hydraulic testing, for transport predictions is unsuitable, as the advective transport time will be considerably underestimated. Another result, from the data set studied, is that mass balance aperture appears to correlate better to apparent storativity than to transmissivity.